DHS Funds Laser Bomb Detector For TSA to Secure Airports

Marcos Dantus, professor at Michigan State University (MSU) has created a laser-based technique (LBT) that can detect trace elements of specified bomb-making materials.

Funding for this project was provided by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (STD).

DHS hopes that a prototype of this invention could be viable with a year.

The system can scan clothing, luggage and other items for those trace elements and generate an image that corresponds to the location of the chemicals being hidden.

When Dantus analyzed applications for biomedical imaging technology, he realized that this advancement could be used to identify evidence of hazardous chemical substances from a distance of ten meters.

Dantus recalls: “While working on biomedical imaging, I began exploring additional applications. We soon learned how effective it was for detecting traces of hazardous substances from distances up to 10 meters away.”

Utilizing the vibrational signatures of molecules in skin and being able to differentiate between them and other chemical signatures, the LBT developed by Dantus can be useful in security situations; such as in an airport.

Dantus’ team collaborated with researchers from Harvard University to create a specialized method of imaging molecules called the stimulated Rama scattering (SRS).

According to Dantus: “The laser is unaffected by clothing and luggage material or color, as the two laser pulses are in a perpetual state of balance, unless a hazardous chemical is picked up. Our method has Raman chemical specificity, excellent sensitivity and robust performance on virtually all surfaces.”

Dantus explained: “Since this method uses a single beam and requires no bulky spectrometers, it is quite practical and could scan many people and their belongings quickly. Not only does it detect the explosive material, but it also provides an image of the chemical’s exact location, even if it’s merely a minute trace on a zipper.”

Dantus is planning to employ BioPhotonic Solutions , his own “high-tech corporation” launched in 2003 with the intention of commercializing a viable version of the LBT.

MSU scientists have been developing laser detection technology for several decades. The most pressing question was whether or not it was safe to use on the general public?

The Transportation Security Agency (TSA) announced earlier this year that they would remove the “backscatter” imaging machines from 30 airports by mid – 2013.

In their place, the TSA will install “millimeter wave body scanners” that would use a “generic stick figure as an image” to be seen by operators while people walk through the detectors.

Rapiscan Systems was contracted by the TSA to manufacture 500 machines; spending $180,000 per unit; however the agreement was later terminated.

Having a LBT like the one designed by Dantus would prove to be an easy sell to the public provided that they could reasonable assert that this technique were safe and affordable.

Reports in mainstream media said that surgically implanted explosive devices (SIED) were a new trend in the body-bomb threat that was becoming an issue for security.

Attorney Kurt Haskell came to fame after he spoke to alternative media about the events he witnessed during the boarding of Flight 253 by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a.k.a the Underwear Bomber (UB).

Haskell recalled that:

• The Underwear Bomber was escorted through security without a passport by the Sharp Dressed Man who by all accounts, appears to be a government agent.
• Congressional hearings have confirmed that the Underwear Bomber was likely let on flight 253 intentionally.
• The bomb failed to detonate, and by many accounts, was designed so that it would not detonate.
• The entire terrorist attack was filmed from before it started until after it ended.
• The bomb was obtained in Yemen where the CIA has been known to have agents interacting with Al Qaeda.

Speaking of explosives, in August of 2012, the DHS placed a solicitation by way of the TSA for 700 pounds of High Density Ammonium Nitrate and 700 pounds of A-5 Flake RDX.

In the solicitation , the DHS did not specify information that a corporation seeking to reply with a bid would need.

In addition, DHS is requesting that high density ammonium nitrate and RDX (the required booster) be delivered to an undisclosed government facility in downtown Atlantic City, NJ.

In India, an estimated 3,500 tons of ammonium nitrate simply goes missing from Indian ports without a clue from local law enforcement as to where or who has stolen the explosive component which is preferred when making home-made bombs.

Ammonium nitrate was used in conjunction with nitromethane racing fuel (which is essentially jet fuel) when the 7,000 pound truck bomb was created for the Oklahoma City bombing. In this instance, domestic terrorist Timothy McVeigh was blamed for the bombing that was a false flag attack on American citizens in the name of gun control.

Back in 2010, Mark Penn who worked as an influential advisor to former President Clinton told Chris Matthews on Hardball that “President Clinton reconnected through Oklahoma, right? And the president right now seems removed. It wasn’t until that speech [after the bombing] that [Clinton] really clicked with the American public. Obama needs a similar” defining moment.